Could a Los Angeles 'gun tax' discourage ownership?
Los Angeles city councilmen say a gun tax could raise up to $1 million per year for the city. The tax would echo similar moves in other cities, including Chicago.
A box of ammunition is seen on the counter of a gun shop in Tinley Park, Ill. (2012).
M. Spencer Green/AP/File
鈥淗ey, hey Paul鈥︹��听House Ways & Means Chair Paul Ryan remains under the glaring spotlight of a party that wants him to be the next Speaker of the House. Representative听听believes he 鈥渋s the right man for the moment.鈥� Meanwhile, the听听Ryan to talk with them if he wants the job. And former Speaker听, should Ryan run and win the Speakership: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not careful, by Christmas you resemble John Boehner.鈥� So far, at least, Ryan stays听on the sidelines.
There鈥檚 a Democratic debate tomorrow night.听The party鈥檚 first presidential forum this year could give candidates a chance to discuss their tax plans. Will they? TPC鈥檚 Steve听听at Bernie Sanders鈥� and Hillary Clinton鈥檚 respective plans for taxing Wall Street. The choice: Go big or go small. Sanders would tax Wall Street enough to fund college education for all, raising an estimated $300 billion a year. Clinton would tax algorithmic traders: They place and then cancel millions of orders a year.听Her plan wouldn鈥檛 raise as much revenue as Sanders鈥� but could curb some market abuses.
Speaking of algorithms: Are they the future of auditing?听Right now, the IRS relies on data mining by forensic accountants to uncover tax shelters. But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the nonprofit Mitre Corporation听听that detects 鈥�.鈥� That鈥檚 where you line up individual tax code regulations to see if, when applied together, the regulations produce a tax dodge. The researchers created a specific algorithm that can root out one tax avoidance scheme in partnership structures. The shelter artificially boosts the basis value of an asset, so much so that capital gains are zeroed out when the asset is sold.
A gun tax in Los Angeles?听City Councilmen Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian have proposed a听听that could raise $1 million a year. Koretz said, "If you want to have a gun, you can have one, but you have to pay an extra tax that pays for some of the societal costs of guns."听The听听that California hospitals spent about $87鈥塵illion on firearm assault injury costs in 2010. Taxpayers covered about 65鈥塸ercent of it. Two other cities have made comparable tax moves. Chicago enacted a gun tax in 2012. Seattle鈥檚 gun tax is due to go into effect in January鈥攂ut the National Rifle Association and two other gun groups have challenged it in court.
Worth repeating: Income taxes alone don鈥檛 drive employment and relocation decisions.听TPC鈥檚 Richard听听at a new report from Americans for Tax Reform and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Their report claims income taxes drive free agency in the National Hockey League鈥攎aking 54 percent of NHL free agents choose teams with low taxes. Problem is, the report relies on incomplete methodology and rather spurious reasoning.